Boxing champs checkmate outside of the ring

Retired boxing champ reinvents himself outside ring

BY JAMES H. BURNETT III
Miami Herald

Pop quiz, sports fans: What does a famous, semi-shy, 247-pound, 6-foot-5 man with fists the size of Christmas hams do when he retires?

When the chap in question is Lennox Lewis, three-time heavyweight boxing champion of the world, the answer is easy: Whatever he wants.

Lots of pro athletes — think Pete Rose, Lawrence Taylor, maybe even the great Michael Jordan — spend their post-heyday years clinging desperately to a waning spotlight. But since he hung up his gloves three years ago, Lewis, 41, has reinvented himself as husband, devoted father to 3-year-old Landon and 1-year-old Ling, weekend-warrior athlete, charity entrepreneur and Miami resident.

”I have nothing to prove anymore, y’know, mate,” says the affable giant whose ring nickname was The Lion and whose record was an impressive 41 wins (including 32 knockouts and TKOs) out of 44 fights. “My life now is about becoming Lennox Lewis, the other Lennox Lewis, the one people haven’t necessarily seen. Or maybe they don’t need to see!”

Don’t be fooled. Lennox Claudius Lewis, who was born in London but spent his young-adult years in Canada, is anything but a recluse these days. He makes regular trips to England to check on Lennox Lewis College in the London borough of Hackney, which he founded in 1995 for at-risk teenagers. He sponsors and mentors a national-champion chess team comprised of inner-city kids in Memphis.

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